GOTT’s DAVE VAN BEEK Talks Harnessing Ache On New EP, Masking FLEETWOOD MAC & Reside Debut at Roadburn

Artwork birthed from ache is commonly the purest. That was the case for the brand new EP from Gott, the Netherlands based mostly super-group that includes previous and current members of The Satan’s Blood, Molassess, Extreme Tourture, Legion of the Damned, Soulburn, Ggu:ll, Dodecahedron and Radar Males From The Moon.

Within the wake of their newest assortment To Hell To Zion and their hotly anticipated debut efficiency at Roadburn on April 22, bandleader Dave van Beek sat down with Metallic Injection for a deep dive into the somber genesis of the challenge, the bands’ formidable adaptation of a Fleetwood Mac traditional, the center behind the legendary Roadburn competition and way more!

Can you’re taking me by way of the genesis of Gott? I do know there are ties to your band Ggu:ll and naturally Farida has collaborated with you up to now.

Effectively, it began with me really constructing a house studio the place I am sitting proper now. I’ve received a small studio in my yard the place I make music and the place I rehearse with Ggu:ll. That is how I began utilizing this constructing, so to say. However once I constructed it, it was additionally with the intention to start out engaged on some music for myself, and I actually did not have any concept of what that may be. So I simply began writing music. One night time I’d be writing a black metallic music, and one other night time I’d be writing totally different sorts of stuff. After which I had a gaggle of songs that match fairly properly collectively. And I believed, “I feel I’ve one thing right here that might work.” So I targeted on that, however I by no means actually had a sure way of thinking or a sure sound in my head. I simply wrote a whole lot of music the primary couple of years that I had this residence studio.

After which in 2019, throughout Roadburn really, considered one of my finest pals died. He had most cancers, so all of us knew he would die. So in the previous few weeks of his life I used to be engaged on this music. Form of as an escape, to clear my thoughts. Generally not as an escape, however he was actually in my head once I was engaged on the music. After I was engaged on that music he was all the time concerned, he was in my head or I used to be looking for some calmness in my head. He was a giant a part of that music. After which when he died I made a decision that I needed to complete that music. Earlier than that I already wrote a whole lot of songs, however I simply wrote the guitar elements and the bass and I knew what sort of drum elements I needed with each a part of the music, mainly. However I by no means requested a drummer to come back and play these elements for me. I can drum myself, so I used to be nearly like “I’ll try this sooner or later when I’ve a drummer.” However once I wrote that music I used to be like “yeah, I wish to end this.”

So then I requested a pal to come back and play the drums for the music, and I requested Farida to come back and sing. I had a drummer and Farida on vocals. Earlier than that really I already knew I needed to ask Farida to sing. We have been good pals for a very long time. Selim, her brother, was a superb pal of mine, so we knew one another for a very long time and we talked about it earlier than. So I used to be certain that I needed to have Farida on vocals. For that first music I recorded all the things myself besides the drums and Farida‘s voice, in fact, however all of the guitar elements and the bass I performed myself. However I made a decision I did not wish to play guitar on this band as a result of I do not take into account myself to be a very good guitar participant. I can write a music and if I’ve the time I can play a riff actually tight, however it will likely be too hectic for me to play guitar dwell I feel, so I made a decision to stay with bass for Gott.

Like I stated at first, I have been enjoying music for greater than 30 years now I feel. I am 46 and I had my first band once I was 16. So for 30 years now, and I do know a whole lot of pals that play guitar or no matter instrument, and I simply began desirous about what sort of musicians do I would like for this band? But additionally what sort of individuals. As a result of I knew that I needed to be fairly severe with this band, so that you additionally must have a gentle group of individuals you may journey with and which you can set objectives with and attempt to construct your band. In order that’s how I sort of fashioned the band, after which it went actually gradual. I made a decision to document the EP and I believed that could possibly be a superb challenge to get the entire thing began, to show the songs to my pals and attempt to see if we will develop into a band.

After we recorded the EP, we by no means had been in the identical room on the identical time. One guitar participant would come, I’d train him his elements after which he would come again a few days later and we’d document his elements. And that is how we did it with everyone, really. So it was fairly a protracted challenge to get the entire EP recorded. However I knew that this is able to be the challenge to get this band began, which was actually good I feel.

We had been alleged to play Roadburn final 12 months and naturally it received canceled. However we had been already roughly prepared by then to play that present. However yeah, since then we simply saved on rehearsing each time we may as a result of we had lockdowns the place you were not alleged to be out at night time, so then we could not rehearse. And so there have been ups and downs, however actually slowly it grew as a band. And now we rehearse each week and it actually seems like a band.

The EP itself for me may be very troublesome to peg down in one of the best ways. It is doomy, it is rocky, but it surely’s additionally extremely layered and emotional. And I feel a whole lot of that’s as a result of Farida’s vocals are simply so haunting and intimate. It actually cuts by way of you.

Oh, cool. Thanks. Yeah, that is why I needed Farida on vocals, due to her stunning voice and actually distinctive voice. Such as you stated when she sings and she or he means it you actually really feel it in her voice, you realize? And that is why The Satan’s Blood is considered one of my all time favourite bands, really. I knew them earlier than they began that band, so it has nothing to do with us being pals or no matter. Even when I lived in Alaska or no matter I feel that may nonetheless be considered one of my all time favourite bands. It is her voice and naturally the songwriting of Selim.

However yeah, I agree. Farida is able to singing her personal actually simply. I’ve witnessed it now after we began recording the EP when she got here to Twan and me, one of many guitar gamers. He wrote the lyrics after which collectively we match them on the songs. So Farida did not do a lot with the fundamentals of that. However then she comes into the studio and we begin working collectively and she modifies small issues, and typically she would not even change it. However she sings it and it is like “fuck. I do know it is alleged to sound like this, but it surely did not sound like that in my head.” She actually is aware of the best way to flip a music round and make it her personal and that is what makes her voice actually distinctive, I feel.

And the way about utilizing the traditional Fleetwood Mac music “The Chain?” It actually seems like an announcement piece in which you can take a music that is so acquainted to everybody, one of many staples of their setlist, and you may take that and never utterly wipe it out and alter it, however put these touches into it and make it your personal.

Effectively, thanks very a lot for seeing it that manner. To be trustworthy, once I determined to try to cowl that music I did not even know if we might have the ability to get a superb consequence. After I proposed it to the band I stated “I feel we must always attempt it and perhaps it would not work. And perhaps it would work. If it would not work, it would simply value us a while. And that is it. And if it really works, yeah, perhaps we’ve got one thing particular.” Truly it was at the start of the entire pandemic once I determined to try to cowl “The Chain”. I used to be sitting in my yard within the solar having a beer, and I had the Fleetwood Mac document on after which “The Chain” got here on and I used to be like “fuck, that is such a superb music, we must always attempt to cowl it!” And that is how I proposed it. And it did not actually have a transparent concept in thoughts, after which I began working with it a bit.

The primary a part of the music we used precisely the identical timing as Fleetwood Mac did. Our drummer had the unique music on his headphones, drummed to that, and we used that as the rule of thumb. After which as quickly because the bass solo got here in I made a decision to make use of a metronome to make it a bit extra rocky, a bit extra tight. However that was all principle. Like I stated, it was sort of an open e book and will have gone mistaken. It may have gone the best way it went. And I feel with Pelle coming in and becoming a member of us for the music and Gottfrid as properly, his brother, on piano, it actually added one thing much more particular to it. We requested Pelle as a result of we’re all actually massive In Solitude followers.

We’re a couple of days away from Roadburn. For anybody who hasn’t skilled it, how are you going to sum up the competition? It is touted as being some of the distinctive music festivals on the earth.

It’s. I feel one of many issues that has to do with that’s as a result of Tilburg just isn’t that massive of a metropolis. The venues the place the reveals are are mainly proper within the heart. So for these 4 or 5 days Roadburn takes over town, mainly. In every single place you stroll you see individuals with black t-shirts, band t-shirts. In order that’s the very first thing, I feel, that everyone in Tilburg is conscious that one thing is occurring within the metropolis. Plus, there’s all the time a very good ambiance. And in order that additionally provides to the great vibes, so to say, as a result of I feel there’s all the time a superb vibe round Roadburn. Plus the road up is often fairly particular, which makes it value it for individuals to journey from throughout to come back to Tilburg to come back to the competition.

With Roadburn, it is all the time such a superb ambiance. Proper across the nook there is a road with bars and eating places. So inside a really small space you’ve gotten the competition and you may sit on a terrace and you’ve got some good meals or no matter. So it is simply that the proximity is admittedly good, which additionally provides to the ambiance of the competition, I feel.

And it is actually a no brainer for the inaugural dwell efficiency for Gott to be held at Roadburn. It is good for this band and this assortment of greats from the area. It makes full sense.

Precisely. We could not have requested for a greater first present, really. It is a competition the place most of us already performed with our different bands. A competition that all of us attend yearly, everybody within the band, if we play there or not. The bands that play there, we really feel like kindred spirits. So for us we could not have requested for a greater first present.

For extra on Gott go to their official web site right here. For Roadburn tickets and lineup info go to their official web site.